System and method for enabling bulk retrieval of certificates

ABSTRACT

A system and method for searching and retrieving certificates, which may be used in the processing of encoded messages. In one embodiment, a certificate synchronization application is programmed to perform certificate searches by querying one or more certificate servers for all of the certificates on those certificate servers. If all of the certificates on a certificate server cannot be successfully retrieved using a single search query, due to a search quota on the certificate server being exceeded for example, the search is re-performed through multiple queries, each corresponding to a narrower subsearch. The invention enables large amounts of certificates to be automatically searched for and retrieved from certificate servers, thereby minimizing the need for users to manually search for individual certificates.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to the processing of messages, such ase-mail messages, and more specifically to a system and method forsearching and retrieving certificates used in the processing of encodedmessages.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electronic mail (“e-mail”) messages may be encoded using one of a numberof known protocols. Some of these protocols, such as Secure MultipleInternet Mail Extensions (“S/MIME”) for example, rely on public andprivate encryption keys to provide confidentiality and integrity, and ona Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to communicate information thatprovides authentication and authorization. Data encrypted using aprivate key of a private key/public key pair can only be decrypted usingthe corresponding public key of the pair, and vice-versa. Theauthenticity of public keys used in the encoding of messages isvalidated using certificates. In particular, if a user of a computingdevice wishes to encrypt a message before the message is sent to aparticular individual, the user will require a certificate for thatindividual. That certificate will typically comprise the public key ofthe individual, as well as other identification-related information.

If the requisite certificate for the intended recipient is not alreadystored on the user's computing device, the certificate must first beretrieved. Searching for and retrieving a certificate for a specificrecipient is a process that generally involves querying a certificateserver by having the user manually enter the name and/or e-mail addressof the intended recipient in a search form displayed on the computingdevice, Certificates located in the search are then temporarilydownloaded to the computing device for consideration, and a list oflocated certificates may be displayed to the user. Selected certificatesin the list may then be manually identified by a user for storage in anon-volatile store of the computing device, for potential future use.

Many organizations set up their own certificate servers that contain allof the certificates that have been issued to people in the organizationwho are able to send and receive encoded messages. If an individual inthe organization plans to communicate with other individuals in theorganization, the certificates of these other individuals willpotentially need to be obtained. Manually searching for certificatesissued to particular individuals in an organization, as they becomeneeded, can be inconvenient and time-consuming. Furthermore, manualsearching for certificates may be particularly cumbersome if thecomputing device on which the certificate searches are initiated issmall in size (e.g. a mobile device). It might not also be clear who isenabled to send and receive encoded messages within an organization, andtherefore some attempted certificate searches may not return the desiredresults, if any results are returned at all.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to a system andmethod for searching and retrieving certificates that automates at leastsome of the tasks typically performed manually by users in knowntechniques, and which may be employed by individuals within anorganization to more efficiently exchange encoded messages with otherindividuals in the organization that are able to do so. Morespecifically, embodiments of the invention may be employed to retrievelarge numbers of certificates from one or more certificate servers.

In one broad aspect of the invention, there is provided a method forsearching and retrieving certificates comprising the steps of:performing a search on each of one or more certificate servers for aplurality of certificates, wherein at least one query is submitted tothe respective certificate server to request retrieval of the respectiveplurality of certificates; for each certificate server that returns allof the respective plurality of certificates as a result of the searchperformed thereon, downloading the respective plurality of certificatesto the computing device; for each certificate server that does notreturn all of the respective plurality of certificates as a result ofthe search performed thereon, performing the substeps of dividing therespective search into a plurality of subsearches, performing thesubsearches recursively, wherein at least one query is submitted to therespective certificate server for each subsearch, wherein the respectivecertificate server returns at least a subset of the respective pluralityof certificates as a collective result of the subsearches of therespective search, and downloading the at least a subset of therespective plurality of certificates to the computing device; andstoring at least a subset of certificates downloaded to the computingdevice in one or more certificate stores.

In another broad aspect of the invention, the steps are performed by acertificate synchronization application executing and residing on thecomputing device upon initiation of the search by a user.

In another broad aspect of the invention, the storing step comprisesstoring at least a subset of certificates downloaded to the computingdevice in a certificate store on the computing device and/or in acertificate store on a mobile device.

In another broad aspect of the invention, the method further comprisesthe steps of: generating a list of certificates identifying one or morecertificates downloaded to the computing device; displaying the list toa user; and receiving user selections of selected certificatesidentified in the list; wherein the at least a subset of certificatesstored in the storing step comprises the selected certificates.

In another broad aspect of the invention, the method further comprisesthe step of filtering out duplicate downloaded certificates prior to thestoring step.

In another broad aspect of the invention, the dividing substep comprisesdividing the respective search into subsearches, each subsearch forsearching certificates issued to names beginning with one of a pluralityof prefixes, such as a letter of the alphabet, for example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of embodiments of the invention, and to showmore clearly how it may be carried into effect, reference will now bemade, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a mobile device in one exampleimplementation;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a communication subsystem component of themobile device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a node of a wireless network;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating components of a host system inone example configuration;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of a certificate chain;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating components of an example of anencoded message;

FIG. 7A is a flowchart illustrating steps in a method of searching andretrieving certificates in an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 7B is a flowchart illustrating steps in a method of searching andretrieving certificates in another embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Some embodiments of the invention make use of a mobile station. A mobilestation is a two-way communication device with advanced datacommunication capabilities having the capability to communicate withother computer systems, and is also referred to herein generally as amobile device. A mobile device may also include the capability for voicecommunications. Depending on the functionality provided by a mobiledevice, it may be referred to as a data messaging device, a two-waypager, a cellular telephone with data messaging capabilities, a wirelessInternet appliance, or a data communication device (with or withouttelephony capabilities). A mobile device communicates with other devicesthrough a network of transceiver stations.

To aid the reader in understanding the structure of a mobile device andhow it communicates with other devices, reference is made to FIGS. 1through 3.

Referring first to FIG. 1, a block diagram of a mobile device in oneexample implementation is shown generally as 100. Mobile device 100comprises a number of components, the controlling component beingmicroprocessor 102. Microprocessor 102 controls the overall operation ofmobile device 100. Communication functions, including data and voicecommunications, are performed through communication subsystem 104.Communication subsystem 104 receives messages from and sends messages toa wireless network 200. In this example implementation of mobile device100, communication subsystem 104 is configured in accordance with theGlobal System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and General Packet RadioServices (GPRS) standards. The GSM/GPRS wireless network is usedworldwide and it is expected that these standards will be supersededeventually by Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) and Universal MobileTelecommunications Service (UMTS). New standards are still beingdefined, but it is believed that they will have similarities to thenetwork behaviour described herein, and it will also be understood bypersons skilled in the art that the invention is intended to use anyother suitable standards that are developed in the future. The wirelesslink connecting communication subsystem 104 with network 200 representsone or more different Radio Frequency (RF) channels, operating accordingto defined protocols specified for GSM/GPRS communications. With newernetwork protocols, these channels are capable of supporting both circuitswitched voice communications and packet switched data communications.

Although the wireless network associated with mobile device 100 is aGSM/GPRS wireless network in one example implementation of mobile device100, other wireless networks may also be associated with mobile device100 in variant implementations. Different types of wireless networksthat may be employed include, for example, data-centric wirelessnetworks, voice-centric wireless networks, and dual-mode networks thatcan support both voice and data communications over the same physicalbase stations. Combined dual-mode networks include, but are not limitedto, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or CDMA2000 networks, GSM/GPRSnetworks (as mentioned above), and future third-generation (3G) networkslike EDGE and UMTS. Some older examples of data-centric networks includethe Mobitex™ Radio Network and the DataTAC™ Radio Network. Examples ofolder voice-centric data networks include Personal Communication Systems(PCS) networks like GSM and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)systems.

Microprocessor 102 also interacts with additional subsystems such as aRandom Access Memory (RAM) 106, flash memory 108, display 110, auxiliaryinput/output (I/O) subsystem 112, serial port 114, keyboard 116, speaker118, microphone 120, short-range communications subsystem 122 and otherdevices 124.

Some of the subsystems of mobile device 100 performcommunication-related functions, whereas other subsystems may provide“resident” or on-device functions. By way of example, display 110 andkeyboard 116 may be used for both communication-related functions, suchas entering a text message for transmission over network 200, anddevice-resident functions such as a calculator or task list. Operatingsystem software used by microprocessor 102 is typically stored in apersistent store such as flash memory 108, which may alternatively be aread-only memory (ROM) or similar storage element (not shown). Thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that the operating system, specificdevice applications, or parts thereof, may be temporarily loaded into avolatile store such as RAM 106.

Mobile device 100 may send and receive communication signals overnetwork 200 after required network registration or activation procedureshave been completed. Network access is associated with a subscriber oruser of a mobile device 100. To identify a subscriber, mobile device 100requires a Subscriber Identity Module or “SIM” card 126 to be insertedin a SIM interface 128 in order to communicate with a network. SIM 126is one type of a conventional “smart card” used to identify a subscriberof mobile device 100 and to personalize the mobile device 100, amongother things. Without SIM 126, mobile device 100 is not fullyoperational for communication with network 200. By inserting SIM 126into SIM interface 128, a subscriber can access all subscribed services.Services could include; web browsing and messaging such as e-mail, voicemail, Short Message Service (SMS), and Multimedia Messaging Services(MMS). More advanced services may include: point of sale, field serviceand sales force automation. SIM 126 includes a processor and memory forstoring information. Once SIM 126 is inserted in SIM interface 128, itis coupled to microprocessor 102. In order to identify the subscriber,SIM 126 contains some user parameters such as an International MobileSubscriber Identity (IMSI). An advantage of using SIM 126 is that asubscriber is not necessarily bound by any single physical mobiledevice. SIM 126 may store additional subscriber information for a mobiledevice as well, including datebook (or calendar) information and recentcall information.

Mobile device 100 is a battery-powered device and includes a batteryinterface 132 for receiving one or more rechargeable batteries 130.Battery interface 132 is coupled to a regulator (not shown), whichassists battery 130 in providing power V+ to mobile device 100. Althoughcurrent technology makes use of a battery, future technologies such asmicro fuel cells may provide the power to mobile device 100.

Microprocessor 102, in addition to its operating system functions,enables execution of software applications on mobile device 100. A setof applications that control basic device operations, including data andvoice communication applications, will normally be installed on mobiledevice 100 during its manufacture. Another application that may beloaded onto mobile device 100 would be a personal information manager(PIM). A PIM has functionality to organize and manage data items ofinterest to a subscriber, such as, but not limited to, e-mail, calendarevents, voice mails, appointments, and task items. A PIM application hasthe ability to send and receive data items via wireless network 200. PIMdata items may be seamlessly integrated, synchronized, and updated viawireless network 200 with the mobile device subscriber's correspondingdata items stored and/or associated with a host computer system. Thisfunctionality creates a mirrored host computer on mobile device 100 withrespect to such items. This can be particularly advantageous where thehost computer system is the mobile device subscriber's office computersystem.

Additional applications may also be loaded onto mobile device 100through network 200, auxiliary I/O subsystem 112, serial port 114,short-range communications subsystem 122, or any other suitablesubsystem 124. This flexibility in application installation increasesthe functionality of mobile device 100 and may provide enhancedon-device functions, communication-related functions, or both. Forexample, secure communication applications may enable electroniccommerce functions and other such financial transactions to be performedusing mobile device 100.

Serial port 114 enables a subscriber to set preferences through anexternal device or software application and extends the capabilities ofmobile device 100 by providing for information or software downloads tomobile device 100 other than through a wireless communication network.The alternate download path may, for example, be used to load anencryption key onto mobile device 100 through a direct and thus reliableand trusted connection to provide secure device communication.

Short-range communications subsystem 122 provides for communicationbetween mobile device 100 and different systems or devices, without theuse of network 200. For example, subsystem 122 may include an infrareddevice and associated circuits and components for short-rangecommunication. Examples of short range communication would includestandards developed by the Infrared Data Association (IrDA), Bluetooth,and the 802.11 family of standards developed by IEEE.

In use, a received signal such as a text message, an e-mail message, orweb page download will be processed by communication subsystem 104 andinput to microprocessor 102. Microprocessor 102 will then process thereceived signal for output to display 110 or alternatively to auxiliaryI/O subsystem 112. A subscriber may also compose data items, such ase-mail messages, for example, using keyboard 116 in conjunction withdisplay 110 and possibly auxiliary I/O subsystem 112. Auxiliarysubsystem 112 may include devices such as; a touch screen, mouse, trackball, infrared fingerprint detector, or a roller wheel with dynamicbutton pressing capability. Keyboard 116 is an alphanumeric keyboardand/or telephone-type keypad. A composed item may be transmitted overnetwork 200 through communication subsystem 104.

For voice communications, the overall operation of mobile device 100 issubstantially similar, except that the received signals would be outputto speaker 118, and signals for transmission would be generated bymicrophone 120. Alternative voice or audio I/O subsystems, such as avoice message recording subsystem, may also be implemented on mobiledevice 100. Although voice or audio signal output is accomplishedprimarily through speaker 118, display 110 may also be used to provideadditional information such as the identity of a calling party, durationof a voice call, or other voice call related information.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of the communication subsystemcomponent 104 of FIG. 1 is shown. Communication subsystem 104 comprisesa receiver 150, a transmitter 152, one or more embedded or internalantenna elements 154, 156, Local Oscillators (LOs) 158, and a processingmodule such as a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) 160.

The particular design of communication subsystem 104 is dependent uponthe network 200 in which mobile device 100 is intended to operate, thusit should be understood that the design illustrated in FIG. 2 servesonly as one example. Signals received by antenna 154 through network 200are input to receiver 150, which may perform such common receiverfunctions as signal amplification, frequency down conversion, filtering,channel selection, and analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion. A/Dconversion of a received signal allows more complex communicationfunctions such as demodulation and decoding to be performed in DSP 160.In a similar manner, signals to be transmitted are processed, includingmodulation and encoding, by DSP 160. These DSP-processed signals areinput to transmitter 152 for digital-to-analog (D/A) conversion,frequency up conversion, filtering, amplification and transmission overnetwork 200 via antenna 156. DSP 160 not only processes communicationsignals, but also provides for receiver and transmitter control. Forexample, the gains applied to communication signals in receiver 150 andtransmitter 152 may be adaptively controlled through automatic gaincontrol algorithms implemented in DSP 160.

The wireless link between mobile device 100 and a network 200 maycontain one or more different channels, typically different RF channels,and associated protocols used between mobile device 100 and network 200.A RF channel is a limited resource that must be conserved, typically dueto limits in overall bandwidth and limited battery power of mobiledevice 100.

When mobile device 100 is fully operational, transmitter 152 istypically keyed or turned on only when it is sending to network 200 andis otherwise turned off to conserve resources. Similarly, receiver 150is periodically turned off to conserve power until it is needed toreceive signals or information (if at all) during designated timeperiods.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a block diagram of a node of a wireless networkis shown as 202. In practice, network 200 comprises one or more nodes202. Mobile device 100 communicates with a node 202 within wirelessnetwork 200. In the example implementation of FIG. 3, node 202 isconfigured in accordance with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) andGlobal Systems for Mobile (GSM) technologies. Node 202 includes a basestation controller (BSC) 204 with an associated tower station 206, aPacket Control Unit (PCU) 208 added for GPRS support in GSM, a MobileSwitching Center (MSC) 210, a Home Location Register (HLR) 212, aVisitor Location Registry (VLR) 214, a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN)216, a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) 218, and a Dynamic HostConfiguration Protocol (DHCP) 220. This list of components is not meantto be an exhaustive list of the components of every node 202 within aGSM/GPRS network, but rather a list of components that are commonly usedin communications through network 200.

In a GSM network, MSC 210 is coupled to BSC 204 and to a landlinenetwork, such as a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) 222 tosatisfy circuit switched requirements. The connection through PCU 208,SGSN 216 and GGSN 218 to the public or private network (Internet) 224(also referred to herein generally as a shared network infrastructure)represents the data path for GPRS capable mobile devices. In a GSMnetwork extended with GPRS capabilities, BSC 204 also contains a PacketControl Unit (PCU) 208 that connects to SGSN 216 to controlsegmentation, radio channel allocation and to satisfy packet switchedrequirements. To track mobile device location and availability for bothcircuit switched and packet switched management, HLR 212 is sharedbetween MSC 210 and SGSN 216. Access to VLR 214 is controlled by MSC210.

Station 206 is a fixed transceiver station. Station 206 and BSC 204together form the fixed transceiver equipment. The fixed transceiverequipment provides wireless network coverage for a particular coveragearea commonly referred to as a “cell”. The fixed transceiver equipmenttransmits communication signals to and receives communication signalsfrom mobile devices within its cell via station 206. The fixedtransceiver equipment normally performs such functions as modulation andpossibly encoding and/or encryption of signals to be transmitted to themobile device in accordance with particular, usually predetermined,communication protocols and parameters, under control of its controller.The fixed transceiver equipment similarly demodulates and possiblydecodes and decrypts, if necessary, any communication signals receivedfrom mobile device 100 within its cell. Communication protocols andparameters may vary between different nodes. For example, one node mayemploy a different modulation scheme and operate at differentfrequencies than other nodes.

For all mobile devices 100 registered with a specific network, permanentconfiguration data such as a user profile is stored in HLR 212. HLR 212also contains location information for each registered mobile device andcan be queried to determine the current location of a mobile device. MSC210 is responsible for a group of location areas and stores the data ofthe mobile devices currently in its area of responsibility in VLR 214.Further VLR 214 also contains information on mobile devices that arevisiting other networks. The information in VLR 214 includes part of thepermanent mobile device data transmitted from HLR 212 to VLR 214 forfaster access. By moving additional information from a remote HLR 212node to VLR 214, the amount of traffic between these nodes can bereduced so that voice and data services can be provided with fasterresponse times and at the same time requiring less use of computingresources.

SGSN 216 and GGSN 218 are elements added for GPRS support; namely packetswitched data support, within GSM. SGSN 216 and MSC 210 have similarresponsibilities within wireless network 200 by keeping track of thelocation of each mobile device 100. SGSN 216 also performs securityfunctions and access control for data traffic on network 200. GGSN 218provides internetworking connections with external packet switchednetworks and connects to one or more SGSN's 216 via an Internet Protocol(IP) backbone network operated within the network 200. During normaloperations, a given mobile device 100 must perform a “GPRS Attach” toacquire an IP address and to access data services. This requirement isnot present in circuit switched voice channels as Integrated ServicesDigital Network (ISDN) addresses are used for routing incoming andoutgoing calls. Currently, all GPRS capable networks use private,dynamically assigned IP addresses, thus requiring a DHCP server 220connected to the GGSN 218. There are many mechanisms for dynamic IPassignment, including using a combination of a Remote AuthenticationDial-In User Service (RADIUS) server and DHCP server. Once the GPRSAttach is complete, a logical connection is established from a mobiledevice 100, through PCU 208, and SGSN 216 to an Access Point Node (APN)within GGSN 218. The APN represents a logical end of an IP tunnel thatcan either access direct Internet compatible services or private networkconnections. The APN also represents a security mechanism for network200, insofar as each mobile device 100 must be assigned to one or moreAPNs and mobile devices 100 cannot exchange data without firstperforming a GPRS Attach to an APN that it has been authorized to use.The APN may be considered to be similar to an Internet domain name suchas “myconnection.wireless.com”.

Once the GPRS Attach is complete, a tunnel is created and all traffic isexchanged within standard IP packets using any protocol that can besupported in IP packets. This includes tunneling methods such as IP overIP as in the case with some IPSecurity (IPsec) connections used withVirtual Private Networks (VPN). These tunnels are also referred to asPacket Data Protocol (PDP) Contexts and there are a limited number ofthese available in the network 200. To maximize use of the PDP Contexts,network 200 will run an idle timer for each PDP Context to determine ifthere is a lack of activity. When a mobile device 100 is not using itsPDP Context, the PDP Context can be deallocated and the IP addressreturned to the IP address pool managed by DHCP server 220.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a block diagram illustrating components of ahost system in one example configuration is shown. Host system 250 willtypically be a corporate office or other local area network (LAN), butmay instead be a home office computer or some other private system, forexample, in variant 20 implementations. In this example shown in FIG. 4,host system 250 is depicted as a LAN of an organization to which a userof mobile device 100 belongs.

LAN 250 comprises a number of network components connected to each otherby LAN connections 260. For instance, a user's desktop computer 262 awith an accompanying cradle 264 for the user's mobile device 100 issituated on LAN 250. Cradle 264 for mobile device 100 may be coupled tocomputer 262 a by a serial or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection,for example. Other user computers 262 b are also situated on LAN 250,and each may or may not be equipped with an accompanying cradle 264 fora mobile device. Cradle 264 facilitates the loading of information (e.g.PIM data, private symmetric encryption keys to facilitate securecommunications between mobile device 100 and LAN 250) from user computer262 a to mobile device 100, and may be particularly useful for bulkinformation updates often performed in initializing mobile device 100for use. The information downloaded to mobile device 100 may includecertificates used in the exchange of messages. It will be understood bypersons skilled in the art that user computers 262 a, 262 b willtypically be also connected to other peripheral devices not explicitlyshown in FIG. 4.

Embodiments of the invention relate generally to the processing ofmessages, such as e-mail messages, and some embodiments relate generallyto the communication of such messages to and from mobile device 100.Accordingly, only a subset of network components of LAN 250 are shown inFIG. 4 for ease of exposition, and it will be understood by personsskilled in the art that LAN 250 will comprise additional components notexplicitly shown in FIG. 4, for this example configuration. Moregenerally, LAN 250 may represent a smaller part of a larger network [notshown] of the organization, and may comprise different components and/orbe arranged in different topologies than that shown in the example ofFIG. 4.

In this example, mobile device 100 communicates with LAN 250 through anode 202 of wireless network 200 and a shared network infrastructure 224such as a service provider network or the public Internet. Access to LAN250 may be provided through one or more routers [not shown], andcomputing devices of LAN 250 may operate from behind a firewall or proxyserver 266.

In a variant implementation, LAN 250 comprises a wireless VPN router[not shown] to facilitate data exchange between the LAN 250 and mobiledevice 100. The concept of a wireless VPN router is new in the wirelessindustry and implies that a VPN connection can be established directlythrough a specific wireless network to mobile device 100. Thepossibility of using a wireless VPN router has only recently beenavailable and could be used when the new Internet Protocol (IP) Version6 (IPV6) arrives into IP-based wireless networks. This new protocol willprovide enough IP addresses to dedicate an IP address to every mobiledevice, making it possible to push information to a mobile device at anytime. An advantage of using a wireless VPN router is that it could be anoff-the-shelf VPN component, not requiring a separate wireless gatewayand separate wireless infrastructure to be used. A VPN connection wouldpreferably be a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/IP or User DatagramProtocol (UDP)/IP connection to deliver the messages directly to mobiledevice 100 in this variant implementation.

Messages intended for a user of mobile device 100 are initially receivedby a message server 268 of LAN 250. Such messages may originate from anyof a number of sources. For instance, a message may have been sent by asender from a computer 262 b within LAN 250, from a different mobiledevice [not shown] connected to wireless network 200 or to a differentwireless network, or from a different computing device or other devicecapable of sending messages, via the shared network infrastructure 224,and possibly through an application service provider (ASP) or Internetservice provider (ISP), for example.

Message server 268 typically acts as the primary interface for theexchange of messages, particularly e-mail messages, within theorganization and over the shared network infrastructure 224. Each userin the organization that has been set up to send and receive messages istypically associated with a user account managed by message server 268.One example of a message server 268 is a Microsoft Exchange™ Server. Insome implementations, LAN 250 may comprise multiple message servers 268.Message server 268 may also be adapted to provide additional functionsbeyond message management, including the management of data associatedwith calendars and task lists, for example.

When messages are received by message server 268, they are typicallystored in a message store [not explicitly shown], from which messagescan be subsequently retrieved and delivered to users. For instance, ane-mail client application operating on a user's computer 262 a mayrequest the e-mail messages associated with that user's account storedon message server 268. These messages would then typically be retrievedfrom message server 268 and stored locally on computer 262 a.

When operating mobile device 100, the user may wish to have e-mailmessages retrieved for delivery to the handheld. An e-mail clientapplication operating on mobile device 100 may also request messagesassociated with the user's account from message server 268. The e-mailclient may be configured (either by the user or by an administrator,possibly in accordance with an organization's information technology(IT) policy) to make this request at the direction of the user, at somepre-defined time interval, or upon the occurrence of some pre-definedevent. In some implementations, mobile device 100 is assigned its owne-mail address, and messages addressed specifically to mobile device 100are automatically redirected to mobile device 100 as they are receivedby message server 268.

To facilitate the wireless communication of messages and message-relateddata between mobile device 100 and components of LAN 250, a number ofwireless communications support components 270 may be provided. In thisexample implementation, wireless communications support components 270comprise a message management server 272, for example. Messagemanagement server 272 is used to specifically provide support for themanagement of messages, such as e-mail messages, that are to be handledby mobile devices. Generally, while messages are still stored on messageserver 268, message management server 272 can be used to control when,if, and how messages should be sent to mobile device 100. Messagemanagement server 272 also facilitates the handling of messages composedon mobile device 100, which are sent to message server 268 forsubsequent delivery.

For example, message management server 272 may: monitor the user's“mailbox” (e.g. the message store associated with the user's account onmessage server 268) for new e-mail messages; apply user-definablefilters to new messages to determine if and how the messages will berelayed to the user's mobile device 100; compress and encrypt newmessages (e.g. using an encryption technique such as Data EncryptionStandard (DES) or Triple DES) and push them to mobile device 100 via theshared network infrastructure 224 and wireless network 200; and receivemessages composed on mobile device 100 (e.g. encrypted using TripleDES), decrypt and decompress the composed messages, re-format thecomposed messages if desired so that they will appear to have originatedfrom the user's computer 262 a, and re-route the composed messages tomessage server 268 for delivery.

Certain properties or restrictions associated with messages that are tobe sent from and/or received by mobile device 100 can be defined (e.g.by an administrator in accordance with IT policy) and enforced bymessage management server 272. These may include whether mobile device100 may receive encrypted and/or signed messages, minimum encryption keysizes, whether outgoing messages must be encrypted and/or signed, andwhether copies of all secure messages sent from mobile device 100 are tobe sent to a pre-defined copy address, for example.

Message management server 272 may also be adapted to provide othercontrol functions, such as only pushing certain message information orpre-defined portions (e.g. “blocks”) of a message stored on messageserver 268 to mobile device 100. For example, when a message isinitially retrieved by mobile device 100 from message server 268,message management server 272 is adapted to push only the first part ofa message to mobile device 100, with the part being of a pre-definedsize (e.g. 2 KB). The user can then request more of the message, to bedelivered in similar-sized blocks by message management server 272 tomobile device 100, possibly up to a maximum predefined message size.

Accordingly, message management server 272 facilitates better controlover the type of data and the amount of data that is communicated tomobile device 100, and can help to minimize potential waste of bandwidthor other resources.

It will be understood by persons skilled in the art that messagemanagement server 272 need not be implemented on a separate physicalserver in LAN 250 or other network. For example, some or all of thefunctions associated with message management server 272 may beintegrated with message server 268, or some other server in LAN 250.Furthermore, LAN 250 may comprise multiple message management servers272, particularly in variant implementations where a large number ofmobile devices need to be supported.

Embodiments of the invention relate generally to the processing ofencoded messages, such as e-mail messages that are encrypted and/orsigned. While Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), RFC822 headers, andMultipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) body parts may be used todefine the format of a typical e-mail message not requiring encoding,Secure/MIME (S/MIME), a version of the MIME protocol, may be used in thecommunication of encoded messages (i.e. in secure messagingapplications). S/MIME enables end-to-end authentication andconfidentiality, and protects data integrity and privacy from the timean originator of a message sends a message until it is decoded and readby the message recipient. Other known standards and protocols may beemployed to facilitate secure message communication, such as Pretty GoodPrivacy™ (PGP), OpenPGP, and others known in the art.

Secure messaging protocols such as S/MIME rely on public and privateencryption keys to provide confidentiality and integrity, and on aPublic Key infrastructure (PKI) to communicate information that providesauthentication and authorization. Data encrypted using a private key ofa private key/public key pair can only be decrypted using thecorresponding public key of the pair, and vice-versa. Private keyinformation is never made public, whereas public key information isshared.

For example, if a sender wishes to send a message to a recipient inencrypted form, the recipient's public key is used to encrypt a message,which can then be decrypted only using the recipient's private key.Alternatively, in some encoding techniques, a one-time session key isgenerated and used to encrypt the body of a message, typically with asymmetric encryption technique (e.g. Triple DES). The session key isthen encrypted using the recipient's public key (e.g. with a public keyencryption algorithm such as RSA), which can then be decrypted onlyusing the recipient's private key. The decrypted session key can then beused to decrypt the message body. The message header may be used tospecify the particular encryption scheme that must be used to decryptthe message. Other encryption techniques based on public keycryptography may be used in variant implementations. However, in each ofthese cases, only the recipient's private key may be used to facilitatedecryption of the message, and in this way, the confidentiality ofmessages can be maintained.

As a further example, a sender may sign a message using a digitalsignature. A digital signature is a digest of the message (e.g. a hashof the message) encrypted using the sender's private key, which can thenbe appended to the outgoing message. To verify the signature of themessage when received, the recipient uses the same technique as thesender (e.g. using the same standard hash algorithm) to obtain a digestof the received message. The recipient also uses the sender's public keyto decrypt the digital signature, in order to obtain what should be amatching digest for the received message. If the digests of the receivedmessage do not match, this suggests that either the message content waschanged during transport and/or the message did not originate from thesender whose public key was used for verification. By verifying adigital signature in this way, authentication of the sender and messageintegrity can be maintained.

An encoded message may be encrypted, signed, or both encrypted andsigned. The authenticity of public keys used in these operations isvalidated using certificates. A certificate is a digital document issuedby a certificate authority (CA). Certificates are used to authenticatethe association between users and their public keys, and essentially,provides a level of trust in the authenticity of the users'public keys.Certificates contain information about the certificate holder, withcertificate contents typically formatted in accordance with an acceptedstandard (e.g. X.509).

Consider FIG. 5, in which an example certificate chain 300 is shown.Certificate 310 issued to “John Smith” is an example of a certificateissued to an individual, which may be referred to as an end entitycertificate. End entity certificate 310 typically identifies thecertificate holder 312 (i.e. John Smith in this example) and the issuerof the certificate 314, and includes a digital signature of the issuer316 and the certificate holder's public key 318. Certificate 310 willalso typically include other information and attributes that identifythe certificate holder (e.g. e-mail address, organization name,organizational unit name, location, etc.). When the individual composesa message to be sent to a recipient, it is customary to include thatindividual's certificate 310 with the message.

For a public key to be trusted, its issuing organization must betrusted. The relationship between a trusted CA and a user's public keycan be represented by a series of related certificates, also referred toas a certificate chain. The certificate chain can be followed todetermine the validity of a certificate.

For instance, in the example certificate chain 300 shown in FIG. 5, therecipient of a message purported to be sent by John Smith may wish toverify the trust status of certificate 310 attached to the receivedmessage. To verify the trust status of certificate 310 on a recipient'scomputing device (e.g. computer 262 a of FIG. 4) for example, thecertificate 320 of issuer ABC is obtained, and used to verify thatcertificate 310 was indeed signed by issuer ABC. Certificate 320 mayalready be stored in a certificate store on the computing device, or itmay need to be retrieved from a certificate source (e.g. LDAP server 284of FIG. 4 or some other public or private LDAP server). If certificate320 is already stored in the recipient's computing device and thecertificate has been designated as trusted by the recipient, thencertificate 310 is considered to be trusted since it chains to a stored,trusted certificate.

However, in the example shown in FIG. 5, certificate 330 is alsorequired to verify the trust of certificate 310. Certificate 330 isself-signed, and is referred to as a “root certificate”. Accordingly,certificate 320 may be referred to as an “intermediate certificate” incertificate chain 300; any given certificate chain to a rootcertificate, assuming a chain to the root certificate can be determinedfor a particular end entity certificate, may contain zero, one, ormultiple intermediate certificates. If certificate 330 is a rootcertificate issued by a trusted source (from a large certificateauthority such as Verisign or Entrust, for example), then certificate310 may be considered to be trusted since it chains to a trustedcertificate. The implication is that both the sender and the recipientof the message trust the source of the root certificate 330. If acertificate cannot be chained to a trusted certificate, the certificatemay be considered to be “not trusted”.

Certificate servers store information about certificates and listsidentifying certificates that have been revoked. These certificateservers can be accessed to obtain certificates and to verify certificateauthenticity and revocation status. For example, a Lightweight DirectoryAccess Protocol (LDAP) server may be used to obtain certificates, and anOnline Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) server may be used to verifycertificate revocation status.

Standard e-mail security protocols typically facilitate secure messagetransmission between non-mobile computing devices (e.g. computers 262 a,262 b of FIG. 4; remote desktop devices). Referring again to FIG. 4, inorder that signed messages received from senders may be read from mobiledevice 100 and encrypted messages be sent to those senders, mobiledevice 100 is adapted to store certificates and associated public keysof other individuals. Certificates stored on a user's computer 262 awill typically be downloaded from computer 262 a to mobile device 100through cradle 264, for example.

Certificates stored on computer 262 a and downloaded to mobile device100 are not limited to certificates associated with individuals but mayalso include certificates issued to CAs, for example. Certaincertificates stored in computer 262 a and/or mobile device 100 can alsobe explicitly designated as “trusted” by the user. Accordingly, when acertificate is received by a user on mobile device 100, it can beverified on mobile device 100 by matching the certificate with onestored on mobile device 100 and designated as trusted, or otherwisedetermined to be chained to a trusted certificate.

Mobile device 100 may also be adapted to store the private key of thepublic key/private key pair associated with the user, so that the userof mobile device 100 can sign outgoing messages composed on mobiledevice 100, and decrypt messages sent to the user encrypted with theuser's public key. The private key may be downloaded to mobile device100 from the user's computer 262 a through cradle 264, for example. Theprivate key is preferably exchanged between the computer 262 a andmobile device 100 so that the user may share one identity and one methodfor accessing messages.

User computers 262 a, 262 b can obtain certificates from a number ofsources, for storage on computers 262 a, 262 b and/or mobile devices(e.g. mobile device 100). These certificate sources may be private (e.g.dedicated for use within an organization) or public, may reside locallyor remotely, and may be accessible from within an organization's privatenetwork or through the Internet, for example. In the example shown inFIG. 4, multiple PKI servers 280 associated with the organization resideon LAN 250. PKI servers 280 include a CA server 282 for issuingcertificates, an LDAP server 284 used to search for and downloadcertificates (e.g. for individuals within the organization), and an OCSPserver 286 used to verify the revocation status of certificates.

Certificates may be retrieved from LDAP server 284 by a user computer262 a, for example, to be downloaded to mobile device 100 via cradle264. However, in a variant implementation, LDAP server 284 may beaccessed directly (i.e. “over the air” in this context) by mobile device100, and mobile device 100 may search for and retrieve individualcertificates through a mobile data server 288. Similarly, mobile dataserver 288 may be adapted to allow mobile device 100 to directly queryOCSP server 286 to verify the revocation status of certificates.

In variant implementations, only selected PKI servers 280 may be madeaccessible to mobile devices (e.g. allowing certificates to bedownloaded only from a user's computer 262 a, 262 b, while allowing therevocation status of certificates to be checked from mobile device 100).

In variant implementations, certain PKI servers 280 may be madeaccessible only to mobile devices registered to particular users, asspecified by an IT administrator, possibly in accordance with an ITpolicy, for example.

Other sources of certificates [not shown] may include a Windowscertificate store, another secure certificate store on or outside LAN250, and smart cards, for example.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a block diagram illustrating components of anexample of an encoded message, as may be received by a message server(e.g. message server 268 of FIG. 4), is shown generally as 350. Encodedmessage 350 typically includes one or more of the following: a headerportion 352, an encoded body portion 354, optionally one or more encodedattachments 356, one or more encrypted session keys 358, and signatureand signature-related information 360. For example, header portion 352typically includes addressing information such as “To”, “From”, and “CC”addresses, and may also include message length indicators, and senderencryption and signature scheme identifiers, for example. Actual messagecontent normally includes a message body or data portion 354 andpossibly one or more attachments 356, which may be encrypted by thesender using a session key. If a session key was used, it is typicallyencrypted for each intended recipient using the respective public keyfor each recipient, and included in the message at 358. If the messagewas signed, a signature and signature-related information 360 are alsoincluded. This may include the sender's certificate, for example.

The format for an encoded message as shown in FIG. 6 is provided by wayof example only, and persons skilled in the art will understand thatembodiments of the invention will be applicable to encoded messages ofother formats. Depending on the specific messaging scheme used,components of an encoded message may appear in a different order thanshown in FIG. 6, and an encoded message may include fewer, additional,or different components, which may depend on whether the encoded messageis encrypted, signed or both.

Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to a system andmethod for searching and retrieving certificates that automates at leastsome of the tasks typically performed manually by users in knowntechniques for searching certificates, and provide means for largenumbers of certificates to be retrieved from one or more certificateservers.

Many certificate servers (e.g. LDAP servers, such as LDAP server 284 ofFIG. 4) are configured to impose limits on the number of certificatesthat will be located on and retrieved from the server in the processingof a given search query. For example, this may be done to prevent asearch from inadvertently returning too many results if the query usedwas, perhaps unintentionally, defined too broadly. Typically, a searchis performed on a certificate server to locate a few, selectcertificates for specific individuals.

However, in certain situations, it may be desirable to obtain a largenumber, if not all of the certificates, particularly end entitycertificates, which are stored on one or more specific certificateservers. For example, many organizations set up their own LDAP serversto store certificates issued to people within the organization who areable (or set up) to send and receive encoded messages. If theorganization is not too large, some individuals within the organizationmay wish to download most or all of the end entity certificates on theorganization's LDAP server, and store them on that individual'scomputing device for future use. In the event that a particularcertificate is subsequently needed to encode or decode a messageexchanged (or to be exchanged) with another individual in the sameorganization, it is likely that the requisite certificate has alreadybeen retrieved and stored, and a manual search for and retrieval of thecertificate from the LDAP server may not be required.

In one embodiment of the invention, a certificate synchronizationapplication is provided on a user's computing device. The certificatesynchronization application is programmed to allow users to initiatecertificate searches of one or more certificate servers and retrievelarge numbers of certificates, if not all of the certificates, on thosecertificate servers in accordance with one of the methods in anembodiment of the invention, as may be described with reference to theremaining Figures.

In one embodiment of the invention, the certificate synchronizationapplication executes and resides on a user's desktop computer (e.g.computer 262 a of FIG. 4) to which a cradle (e.g. cradle 264 of FIG. 4)for a mobile device (e.g. mobile device 100 of FIG. 4) is connected.However, in variant embodiments of the invention, the certificatesynchronization application may execute and reside on a desktop computernot equipped with a cradle for a mobile device, or on some othercomputing device. For example, the certificate synchronizationapplication may execute and reside on a mobile device, which may havedirect access to certificate servers (e.g. through mobile data server288 of FIG. 4). By way of further example, the certificatesynchronization application need not be executing on the same computingdevice to which certificates would typically be downloaded. For example,the certificate synchronization application may execute on a centralserver, such as a message management server (e.g. message managementserver 272 of FIG. 4) or message server (e.g. message server 268 of FIG.4), for example. Moreover, the certificate synchronization applicationneed not be a stand-alone application, and the functions of thecertificate synchronization application described herein may beintegrated with the functions of some other application, residing andexecuting on a computing device such as a desktop computer, a mobiledevice, a message management server, a message server, or some othercomputing device.

Referring to FIG. 7A, a flowchart illustrating steps in a method ofsearching and retrieving certificates in an embodiment of the inventionis shown generally as 400. The method facilitates at least partialautomation of a pre-loading of certificates, to minimize the need for auser to manually search for a certificate for individuals whosecertificates are stored on specific certificate servers. Thesecertificate servers may be maintained by an organization to which theuser belongs, for example.

In one embodiment of the invention, at least some of the steps of themethod are performed by a certificate synchronization application thatexecutes and resides on a desktop computer. In variant embodiments, thecertificate synchronization application may be residing and executing ona computing device such as a mobile device, a message management server,a message server, or some other computing device.

At step 410, one or more certificate servers (e.g. LDAP server 284 ofFIG. 4) that will be used for certificate searches are configured foraccess. Of those configured certificate servers, one or more certificateservers may be designated for certificate searching in accordance withan embodiment of the invention.

Typically, information required to configure a certificate server mayinclude, for example, a host name, a host address or uniform resourcelocator (URL), a port number (e.g. for LDAP servers), a default basequery, a query limit (e.g. user-defined, independent of the limit thatthe server itself may impose), and/or an indication of whethercertificate information is to be compressed for transmission. In oneimplementation, such configuration information can be input by a user,and default values for certain inputs may be set in the certificatesynchronization application. In other implementations, suchconfiguration information may already be pre-defined in the certificatesynchronization application, possibly by an IT administrator inaccordance with an IT policy. Still other implementations may permitsome configuration information to be input or modified by users, whilenot permitting other configuration information to be user-modified.

Similarly, in one implementation, the certificate synchronizationapplication may permit users to manually designate specific certificateservers that will be queried and searched in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. In other implementations, the certificatesynchronization application may automatically designate certainpre-identified specific certificate servers to be searched, possibly asdirected by an IT administrator in accordance with an IT policy. Stillother implementations may permit some degree of user configuration, byallowing a user to designate specific certificate servers but only froma set defined by an IT administrator, in accordance with an IT policy,for example.

At step 420, a request is received by the certificate synchronizationapplication from the user to initiate a search for all certificates inthe servers designated at step 410.

At step 430, the certificate synchronization application searches forcertificates by automatically querying a designated certificate server,attempting to locate and retrieve all of the certificates stored on eachserver. For example, certain certificate servers will accept blankqueries or queries employing some “wild card” type search indicator, andreturn all certificates stored on the server.

In this embodiment of the invention, the queries are defined to returnend entity certificates only. However, in variant embodiments of theinvention, the queries may be defined to return other types ofcertificates (e.g. root and/or intermediate certificates issued to CAs),or some combination of different types of certificates.

Depending on the particular certificate server, if all of thecertificates on the certificate server cannot be successfully locatedand retrieved, possibly due to a limit on the number of potential searchresults being exceeded (also referred to herein in the specification andclaims as a “quota”), the certificate server may terminate the searchand issue an error indicator, and return no results or return a limitednumber of results.

If some, but not all certificates could be located and retrieved at step430 as determined at step 440, these certificates (i.e. the truncatedsearch results) may be discarded at step 450 to avoid potentialduplication that might arise as a result of further searching. However,step 450 is optional, and the removal of any duplicates may be deferred,after searching of the designated certificate server has been completed,for example.

If at step 440, it is determined that not all certificates stored on thedesignated server searched at step 430 were successfully located andretrieved, a “divide-and-conquer” approach may then be employed. Such anapproach to the searching of certificates on certificate servers may nothave been considered by persons skilled in the art, since quotas on thenumber of search results that can be obtained from a search of acertificate server are typically established specifically to prevent orat least impede such a mass (or “bulk”) downloading of certificates.Accordingly, a divide-and-conquer technique is used to overcome thesearch limitations imposed by such quotas.

Generally, algorithms that follow a divide-and-conquer approach break aparticular problem into several subproblems that are similar to theoriginal problem but smaller in size, solve the subproblems recursively,and then combine these solutions to create a solution to the originalproblem. More specifically, the divide-and-conquer paradigm generallyinvolves three steps at each level of the recursion:

-   -   divide the problem into a number of subproblems;    -   solve each of the subproblems recursively (“conquer”); if the        subproblem sizes are small enough, however, then the subproblems        can be solved in a straightforward manner; and    -   combine the solutions to the subproblems to obtain the solution        for the original problem.

In the context of embodiments of the invention, the problem to be solvedrelates to the searching and retrieval of all of the certificates fromthe designated certificate server(s). If at step 440, it is determinedthat not all certificates stored on the designated certificate serversearched at step 430 were successfully located and retrieved, the searchis divided into two or more narrower searches (“subsearches”) at step460. The subsearches are defined so that the results of the twosubsearches can be combined to obtain what would have resulted from thesearch had the search been successful in the first instance.

The subsearches are then performed recursively at step 470 throughcorresponding queries of the designated certificate server made by thecertificate synchronization application; if a particular subsearch doesnot successfully locate all of the certificates associated with thatsubsearch (e.g. due to a search quota being exceeded), that subsearchcan be divided into a further level of subsearches. If any of thesubsearches at that further level are not successful, those subsearchescan each be divided into yet another level of subsearches, and so on,until search results for each subsearch is obtained, which can then becombined to produce the overall search results.

In a variant embodiment of the invention, a limit on the number oflevels of recursion that may be permitted with respect to the search maybe defined and enforced by the certificate synchronization application.This recursion level limit may be established by an IT administrator, inaccordance with an IT policy, for example.

The form of the subsearches into which a search may be divided candiffer in different implementations. For example, if a certificateserver permits range-type queries, a search of all certificates may bedivided into a first subsearch for certificates issued to individualswith a last name beginning with a letter from A-M and a second subsearchfor certificates issued to individuals with a last name beginning withN-Z; each of these subsearches, if unsuccessful, may be further dividedinto smaller subsearches (e.g. A-M→A-G+H-M, N-Z→N-S+T-Z), and so on. Anytruncated results of unsuccessful subsearches may be optionallydiscarded. For any given search or subsearch, the search or subsearchcan be divided into two, three, or more subsearches at any given levelof recursion, and the scopes of the subsearches within a particularlevel or between different levels of recursion can differ. Subsearchesmay be based on any of a number of appropriate attributes, which can beused to query a given certificate server, including last names, firstnames, e-mail addresses, employee numbers, and organizational unitidentifiers, for example. It will be understood by persons skilled inthe art that many different variations of divide-and-conquer typealgorithms may be employed without departing from the scope of theinvention.

At step 480, if not all designated certificate servers have beensearched, searching is performed on a designated certificate server thathas not yet been searched. Accordingly, steps of method 400 may berepeated from step 430 until all designated certificate servers havebeen searched.

At step 490, located certificates resulting from the searches of thedesignated certificate servers are downloaded to the computing device.In this embodiment, these certificates are stored temporarily on thecomputing device, and only a subset of certificates as selected by auser is stored for future use. This allows the user to filter the searchresults and discard unwanted or irrelevant certificates. However, in avariant implementation, all located certificates may be automaticallystored for future use on the computing device at step 490 without beingfiltered by the user. In this case, the remaining steps of method 400would not be performed.

At step 500, a list of located certificates downloaded to the computingdevice at step 490 is displayed to the user.

At step 510, a subset of certificates may be selected by the user fromthe list displayed at step 500, to be stored for future use.

At step 520, the certificates selected at step 510 are stored in acertificate store on the computing device.

In a variant embodiment of the invention, the certificates selected atstep 510 may be stored on a (e.g. desktop) computer, and at least asubset of those selected certificates may then be downloaded to a mobiledevice for storage in a certificate store on the mobile device.Certificate downloading to the mobile device can be facilitated througha physical coupling to the computing device (e.g. through cradle 264 ofFIG. 4) or through a wireless connection, for example. In anothervariant embodiment of the invention, the selected certificates or asubset thereof may be stored in a certificate store on the mobiledevice, but not in a certificate store on the computing device.

In a variant embodiment of the invention, method 400 further comprises astep of filtering out duplicate certificates that have been downloadedto the computing device. The list of located certificates displayed atstep 500 may be generated to reflect the filtered results.

In a variant embodiment of the invention, method 400 further comprisessteps of determining and filtering out duplicate contacts for thesearch, prior to querying the certificate servers.

Referring to FIG. 7B, a flowchart illustrating steps in a method ofsearching and retrieving certificates in another embodiment of theinvention is shown generally as 400 b. Method 400 b is similar to method400, except that this embodiment of the invention is directed to aspecific algorithm used in the certificate search.

If at step 440, it is determined that not all certificates stored on thedesignated certificate server searched at step 430 were successfullylocated and retrieved, the search is divided into multiple subsearchesat step 460 b. Specifically, the search is divided into a subsearch forcertificates issued to individuals with names beginning with “A”, asubsearch for certificates issued to individuals with names beginningwith “B”, a subsearch for certificates issued to individuals with namesbeginning with “C”, and so on, so that subsearches are performed for allnames beginning with letters “A” through “Z”. Additional subsearches ormodification of the queries used may be necessary to accommodatesituations where the data may be case-sensitive. Additional subsearchesmay also be performed to search for certificates having names that maybegin with numeric or special characters. In one embodiment of theinvention, the last name attribute may be searched for this purpose, butalternatively, other name attributes (e.g. first name) may instead beused. In variant embodiments of the invention, other fields other thanname fields may be similarly searched.

The subsearches are then performed recursively at step 470 throughcorresponding queries of the designated certificate server. For example,if the subsearch for certificates issued to individuals with namesbeginning with “A” was not successful, possibly due to a limit on thenumber of potential search results being exceeded, the certificatesynchronization application will then divide this subsearch into furthersubsearches to be performed. The subsearch can be divided into asubsearch for certificates issued to individuals with names beginningwith “AA”, a subsearch for certificates issued to individuals with namesbeginning with “AB”, a subsearch for certificates issued to individualswith names beginning with “AC”, and so on, so that subsearches areperformed for all names beginning with letters “AA” through “AZ”. Eachof these subsearches, if unsuccessful, may be divided into furthersubsearches, extending each prefix by a letter at each level ofrecursion. Any truncated results of unsuccessful subsearches may beoptionally discarded. A maximum limit on the prefix length (and thus thenumber of levels of recursion) may be defined and enforced by thecertificate synchronization application. This limit may be establishedby an IT administrator, in accordance with an IT policy, for example.

With respect to methods of searching and retrieving certificates inembodiments of the invention, subsearches may be performed sequentiallyor concurrently, depending on the particular implementation. The abilityto perform subsearches concurrently may depend on the particularcomputing device on which the certificate synchronization applicationexecutes and/or on the ability of a given certificate server to handlemultiple queries from the application simultaneously.

The steps of a method of searching and retrieving certificates inembodiments of the invention may be provided as executable softwareinstructions stored on computer-readable media.

The invention has been described with regard to a number of embodiments.However, it will be understood by persons skilled in the art that othervariants and modifications may be made without departing from the scopeof the invention as defined in the claims appended hereto.

1. A method for searching and retrieving certificates comprising: a)performing a search on each of one or more certificate servers for arespective plurality of certificates, wherein at least one query issubmitted to the certificate server to request retrieval of therespective plurality of certificates; b) for each certificate serverthat returns all of the respective plurality of certificates as a resultof the search performed thereon, downloading the respective plurality ofcertificates to a computing device; c) for each certificate server thatdoes not return all of the respective plurality of certificates as aresult of the search performed thereon, performing a plurality ofsubsteps comprising i) dividing the respective search into a pluralityof subsearches, ii) performing the subsearches recursively, wherein atleast one query is submitted to the respective certificate server foreach subsearch, wherein the respective certificate server returns atleast a subset of the respective plurality of certificates as acollective result of the subsearches of the respective search, and iii)downloading the at least a subset of the respective plurality ofcertificates to the computing device; and d) storing at least a subsetof certificates downloaded to the computing device in one or morecertificate stores comprising a certificate store on a mobile device,wherein the at least a subset of certificate is transmitted from thecomputing device to the mobile device.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid method is performed by a certificate synchronization applicationexecuting and residing on the computing device upon initiation of thesearch at the computing device.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein theplurality of substeps is performed for each certificate server that doesnot return all of the respective plurality of certificates due to asearch quota on the certificate server being exceeded.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising storing at least a subset of certificatedownloaded to the computing device in a certificate store on thecomputing device.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:generating a list of certificates identifying one or more certificatesdownloaded to the computing device; displaying the list of certificatesidentifying one or more certificates downloaded to the computing device;and receiving user selections of selected certificates identified in thelist; wherein the at least a subset of certificates stored in the one ormore certificate stores comprises the selected certificates.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: filtering out duplicatedownloaded certificates prior to storing the at least a subset ofcertificates in the one or more certificate stores.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more certificate servers comprises one ormore Lightweight Directory Access Protocol servers.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the dividing substep comprises dividing the respectivesearch into subsearches, each subsearch for searching certificatesissued to names beginning with one of a plurality of prefixes.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of prefixes includesonly alphabetic characters.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein eachsubsearch of the respective search corresponds to a letter of thealphabet.
 11. A software application for execution on a computingdevice, the application comprising a plurality of instructions stored ona computer-readable medium, the instructions for a method of searchingand retrieving certificates, the method comprising: a) performing asearch on each of one or more certificate servers for a respectiveplurality of certificates, wherein at least one query is submitted tothe certificate server to request retrieval of the respective pluralityof certificates; b) for each certificate server that returns all of therespective plurality of certificates as a result of the search performedthereon, downloading the respective plurality of certificates to thecomputing device; c) for each certificate server that does not returnall of the respective plurality of certificates as a result of thesearch performed thereon, performing a plurality of substeps comprisingi) dividing the respective search into a plurality of subsearches, ii)performing the subsearches recursively, wherein at least one query issubmitted to the certificate server for each subsearch, wherein thecertificate server returns at least a subset of the respective pluralityof certificates as a collective result of the subsearches of therespective search, and iii) downloading the at least a subset of therespective plurality of certificates to the computing device; and d)storing at least a subset of certificates downloaded to the computingdevice in one or more certificate stores comprising a certificate storeon a mobile device, wherein the at least a subset of certificates istransmitted from the computing device to the mobile device.
 12. A systemfor searching and retrieving certificates comprising at least onecomputing device, wherein a certificate synchronization applicationexecutes and resides on a computing device of the at least one computingdevice, the certificate synchronization application programmed to: a)perform a search on each of one or more certificate servers for arespective plurality of certificates, wherein at least one query issubmitted to the certificate server to request retrieval of therespective plurality of certificates; b) for each certificate serverthat returns all of the respective plurality of certificates as a resultof the search performed thereon, download the respective plurality ofcertificates to the computing device of the at least one computingdevice; c) for each certificate server that does not return all of therespective plurality of certificates as a result of the search performedthereon, perform a plurality of substeps comprising i) dividing therespective search into a plurality of subsearches, ii) performing thesubsearches recursively, wherein at least one query is submitted to thecertificate server for each subsearch, wherein the certificate serverreturns at least a subset of the respective plurality of certificates asa collective result of the subsearches of the respective search, andiii) downloading the at least a subset of the respective plurality ofcertificates to a computing device of the at least one computing device;and d) store at least a subset of the downloaded certificates in one ormore certificate stores comprising a certificate store on a mobiledevice, wherein the at least a subset of certificates is transmittedfrom the computing device to the mobile device.
 13. The system of claim12, wherein the plurality of substeps is performed for each certificateserver that does not return all of the respective plurality ofcertificates due to a search quota on the certificate server beingexceeded.
 14. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least a subset ofdownloaded certificates is stored in a certificate store on thecomputing device.
 15. The system of claim 12, wherein the certificatesynchronization application is further programmed to: generate a list ofcertificates identifying one or more certificates downloaded to thecomputing device; display the list of certificates identifying one ormore certificates downloaded to the computing device; and receive userselections of selected certificates identified in the list; wherein theat least a subset of certificates stored in the one or more certificatestores comprises the selected certificates.
 16. The system of claim 12,wherein the certificate synchronization application is furtherprogrammed to: filtering out duplicate downloaded certificates prior tostoring the at least a subset of certificates in the one or morecertificate stores.
 17. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or morecertificate servers comprises one or more Lightweight Directory AccessProtocol servers.
 18. The system of claim 12, wherein the dividingsubstep comprises dividing the respective search into subsearches, eachsubsearch for searching certificates issued to names beginning with oneof a plurality of prefixes.
 19. The system of claim 17, wherein each ofthe plurality of prefixes includes only alphabetic characters.
 20. Thesystem of claim 17, wherein each subsearch of the respective searchcorresponds to a letter of the alphabet.